Diagnosis and causes of viral gastroenteritis

Abstract

Viruses are the major cause of diarrhoeal disease in children in developed and developing countries. They are also of increasing importance in elderly patients, especially in nosocomial diarrhoea. Rotavirus is the most important of the viral enteropathogens and it expresses the first known viral enterotoxin. Prevention of rotavirus diarrhoea is possible in developed countries using live reassortant vaccines, but they are much less effective in developing countries. Electron microscopy is still the only 'catch-all' technique available for the diagnosis of viral diarrhoea. For the future the development of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction should provide a more sensitive and readily applicable 'catch-all' technology.